Hydroelectric power plants in India

Subject – Geography

Context – Centre asks Kerala to increase generation at hydel stations

Concept –

Hydro power projects are classified as large and small hydro projects based on their sizes. Different countries have different size criteria to classify small hydro power project capacity ranging from 10MW to 50 MW.
In India, hydro power plants of 25MW or below capacity are classified as small hydro, which have further been classified into micro (100kW or below), mini (101kW-2MW) and small hydro (2-25MW) segments.
Hydro Power was being looked after by Ministry of Power prior to 1989 mainly with the help of State Electricity Boards.
In 1989, plant capacity up to 3MW and below was transferred to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE) and as such 63 MW aggregate installed capacity of 3MW and below hydro projects came within the jurisdiction of MNRE.